Superintendent

News

Letter from the Superintendent

September 17, 2018

Dear Buckeye Parents and Community,

Last week, the state of Ohio released our District report cards. Buckeye, along with 253 out of 608 other districts across Ohio, received an overall letter grade of C. When we look at the report card, we use three key areas to determine how we are doing as a district: Achievement, Progress, and Gap Closing, and we are very proud of the steady improvements we continue to see in each area!

Achievement is based on “Performance Index” (PI) and “Indicators Met”. PI is a measure of student’s actual test scores that awards points for the number of tests scoring in the areas of Limited, Basic, Proficient, Advanced, and Accelerated. Indicators Met awards points for the number of students meeting state goals on each test. Once again, Buckeye has seen an increase in both of these areas. Below is a comparison of Buckeye’s achievement to other county schools:

District

Overall Grade

PI

Indicators Met

Black River

C

89.277

5 of 24

Brunswick

B

92.603

9 of 24

Buckeye

C

94.625

12 of 24

Cloverleaf

D

94.390

10 of 24

Highland

A

103.298

20 of 24

Medina

B

94.535

9 of 24

Wadsworth

B

99.238

16 of 24

Both Progress and Gap Closing are based on value-added (VA) scores. VA is a state projection of how a student will perform based on previous tests and whether or not a student meets the projected score. The Progress score is based on three years of previous data, and Gap Closing shows how the district did in its most recent year. Buckeye’s Progress (3-year) score remained a D though students with disabilities improved from an F to a D; however, in Gap Closing (1-year), Buckeye improved from a D to a B after a grade-demotion from an A for failing to meet a 60% proficient goal for students with disabilities.

Although at first glance the letter grades the state uses may seem to indicate positive and negative success on our report card, it is important to drill down to identify exactly what the scores and letter grades actually mean. We were disappointed to see that our Prepared for Success score dropped to a D from last year’s C, but after digging into the data, we were happy to learn that our score actually improved from 53.4% (C in 2017) to 55.4% (D in 2018). One significant goal for our high school this year is continuing to raise our AP scores as more and more students enroll in these courses.

In spite of our successes, we maintain these state tests are only one measure of how we are doing as a District. We are excited to see that our hard work is paying off in state achievement, but it is also our continued goal to prepare each child for his or her future, be it college, career, or military. Colleges tell us they want to see students who challenge themselves, participate in activities, and are willing to work for their learning. Our community businesses and military partners tell us our students need “soft skills” such as being on time, being responsible, being a team player, discipline, and a commitment to lifelong learning to be employable. None of these skills are assessed on state tests, but it’s critical to us to emphasize them in student learning.

All of our successes can be attributed to the hard work of our staff, students, and community. We are excited to continue achieving while working to address the needs of all our students!